Grace for All: Is Faith just a Moment in Time Decision?

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This post is a part of a series that is examining each essay in the recently published book Grace for All. 

Is saving faith the “act of a moment” or is it instead an attitude of a lifetime? That is the question that noted Arminian Steve Witzki tackles in his essay in Grace for All. Witzki relies on Robert Shank’s work Life in the Son, which presents a Classical Arminian view of eternal security.

There are three primary yet different views on eternal security and apostasy (see this link). In this essay, Wtizki presents these views under the headings the Moderate Calvinist view, the Classical Arminian view, and the Reformed Calvinist view.

The Moderate Calvinist view (as well as the Free Grace Movement) hold that a true believer can fall away from the faith (commit apostasy) and still be saved (possess eternal life).  The latter two views both hold that an enduring faith is required to be saved. An apostate would not possess eternal life. The Classical Arminian view is that an apostate has forfeited their salvation. The Reformed Calvinist view holds that the apostate was not ever really saved.

I don’t particularly like these labels, since the Arminian view, while advocating enduring faith, encompasses both the idea that one can forfeit salvation and the idea that one was never truly saved.

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However, Witzki doesn’t focus on the differences between the latter two views noting that they are very similar. Instead, the essay targets the flaws in the Moderate Calvinist view (including Joseph Dillow and Charles Stanley).

Many believe that saving faith is the act of a moment – … They believe that one grand and holy moment of decision ushers one into an irrevocable state of grace in which he is unconditionally secure.

However others …

are persuaded that saving faith is not the act of a moment, but the attitude of a life; the initial decision must be perpetually implemented throughout the life of the believer

The question presented in Shank’s book and quoted in Witzki’s essay contrasts these two views asking who is right? Continue reading →

The Tithing Hypothesis (Part 2)

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This post is the third in a series of posts that started with The Talent Potential, where we asked how should  Christians evaluate their management of all that God has entrusted to them. After all, Proverbs (14:15) tells us that “the shrewd person discerns his steps”.

In the last post (The Tithing Hypothesis (Part 1)) we wrestled with the question:

Does the tithe (10%) of the Mosaic Law have any applicability to the NT church?

If by applicable we mean, a mandated amount that must be given by a disciple then the answer is no. The amount of our giving is not based on a “command” (2 Cor 8:7-8).

But, that does not mean that the tithe has no applicability to the NT church. As we study the Scriptures we find that, the tithe (giving 10%) is the guiding principle by which disciples of Christ should measure their giving.

At this point you might be ready to accuse me of being legalistic.

Legalism is only rightly applied when one is adding requirements to possessing eternal life beyond the condition of faith in Christ that God as sovereign has set. I am not advocating that our giving, no matter the amount, is a work that saves (1 Cor 13:3). And although failing to tithe under the Law was a sin (Neh 13:10-14; Mal 3:8-10), it is unlikely that it should be considered so under the New Covenant since it is no longer a command but something to be done voluntarily, eagerly, cheerfully, and generously (2 Cor 8:3, 11; 9:6-11). Continue reading →

The Tithing Hypothesis (Part 1)

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In the last post (The Talent Potential), we posed several questions one might consider if they were to evaluate how well they are managing all that they have been entrusted with by God. In directing our attention to how we manage our finances we posed two questions:

  • Does God provide guidelines for how much we should give?
  • Does God provide guidelines for whom we should give to?

In this post (and the next) we will wrestle with these questions.

Before we do that we will briefly examine the question: does the tithe (10%) of the Mosaic Law have any applicability to the NT church? Continue reading →